Originally published at: Editing RAW and ProRAW Photos Using RAW Power 3 - TidBITS
Every photo editing app can edit RAW files, but most of them apply the same controls to every image, regardless of format. RAW Power 3.3—on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS—features RAW-specific adjustments, the capability to work with proprietary RAW files that aren’t supported at the system level, and more. It also enables you to edit images in the Apple ProRAW format in ways that Apple’s own Photos app doesn’t.
Thanks for the article, great to get an in-depth look at RAW Power. I’ve been keeping my eye on it for years – I’m still using Aperture (!) and have not settled on what I will migrate to. The power of the RAW tools it provides is very enticing. It’s great that RAW Power 3 has added support for both the Photos Library and file browsing. Photos management is a big part (the main part?) of what I use Aperture for, so I’m hoping that side of RAW Power develops a bit, and then it would be perfect for my needs. The easy to use and powerful editing tools are there. Hierarchical keyword support and comparing images side-by-side for selecting/culling would make it pretty much ideal for me. 
2 Likes
Tried the iOS version of RAWpower and it immediately became my favorite photo editing tool on the iOS platforms. I did not hesitate to pay the fee for this app and was glad to see that a single license covers both my iPhone and my iPad.
However - when I looked at the MacOS version I was surprised to find that it requires an additional fee. 30-something bucks won’t drive me to bankruptcy but I already paid for this app - why pay again? Well… That’s not the only app that requires separate payments for iOS and MacOS versions. Same was the case with Fantastical until a little over a year ago when they adopted the (much preferred IMHO) universal-license approach where one pays for a license to use their products across all OS types (they also bundled their contacts management apps into this same license). Notability is another (bad) example as they too charge separately for their iOS and MacOS versions, which is the reason I never purchased their MacOS app.
I’m using the Adobe Photographer’s suite and paying $20 a month for Lightroom and Photoshop plus 1TB storage on adobe cloud. That allows me to use the Adobe tools on all OS types on one license. Though their iOS apps are a far cry from RAWpower, their MacOS tools are great, offer RAW processing, and don’t require an additional license. So I probably won’t be using RAWpower on my Mac, only on my iPad, unless the licensing approach changes.
1 Like
Yeah, that’s the puzzle of payment models. Developing apps for both platforms requires more work, so it’s not unreasonable to charge for them separately. Adobe’s subscription model works because you just keep paying every month (and because they’re a giant company that can spread around the profits among the various dev teams). So you end up paying more for a subscription model than if you were to just buy RAW Power on the Mac directly.
However, I don’t think there’s a right answer. You may be fine using the iOS versions, and maybe it makes you later decide to get the Mac version. Either way you’ve supported an independent developer, so that’s cool. And, like a lot of us, you’re also supporting Adobe and their development efforts, because there are things that Lightroom and Photoshop do well that RAW Power doesn’t.
2 Likes
Thank you for the article, Jeff. In it you said:
The Gamut Map option prevents saturated colors from clipping (going to 100% saturation, such as when something bright red appears unnaturally intense).
I have noticed that successive iPhones (6 & 12) have difficulty displaying (and I think recording) the intense red of poppies. They seem to lose detail, they are just a red blob. Your comment suggests this might be a gamut issue. Please can you suggest where I could learn more about this in the hope of finding / creating a fix / workaround?